I will answer my own question, since I went anyway..... walked in about 230pm. Waited at wait station for for about 2 minutes, which is way too long for a 1/4 full restaurant and 4 wait staff standing around. We were finally sat and waited about 5 minutes at a waterless table, and no one came or acknowledged us. We then got up to leave, and as we were exiting got a chorus of sarcastic "BYES" from the wait staff. Do NOT recommend. Very unprofessional. Too bad. Cute shop, but would never recommend. Went to Acqua instead on a whim, sat outside and they were very gracious and very nice.

Malibu, thanks for the report. Sorry your experience was not good. IMHO, Barbarini is more of a lunch or to go place (I have also had service issues with to go orders and have walked out a few times. They are on seamless web). The room in the back at Barbarini's Mercato is nicer then Barbarini's and they have a server there vs. counter people trying to wait tables in between doing delivery orders. Glad you ended up at Acqua one of the few good places in Seaport North. Food is better at Acqua.

Next time try Table Tales Cafe (American) or Onda (Latin) for lunch or dinner. We just had a wonderful dinner at Table Tales Cafe. Grace is the owner and they are offering a $26.50 three course prix fixe. Limited wine list. That said, bottle are reasonably priced.

sorry to hear it. they can be slow. def on european time. but we have always had really good experiences there. tasty simple food. wine in to-go cups. grab something and bring it to a bench by the water. i would not cross barbarini off a list, especially in that food-forsaken area.

it was certainly cute. I think maybe we just went on a bad day? The funny thing is, the staff were not european... but we are! i'll duck in for a wine (to go?!!) sometime this summer and give them a chance to redeem themselves. thank you

IMHO, it's good for soup or coffee (Jack's across the street closes early) or delivery via seamless web (if you go in person it's super slow, probably because they're busy doing all the seamless web orders). The service was much better when they first opened. Sometimes I get delivery from Max in TriBeCa - food and service better then Barbarini. With so many choices, why settle?

How would you guys compare the pasta quality at Barbarini to that of Inatteso in Battery Park? Do they use fresh pasta at Barbarini, or is it just boxed stuff? And how's their sauce? I need to meet some friends from out of town in Seaport this weekend, and am trying to find the best moderately priced restaurant that suck the least. I live down here, and as a chowhound, will never voluntarily eat out down here anywhere (it's really sad how everything is overpriced and not exceptionally great). I don't mind paying if it's truly great food, but alas... going to another neighborhood is not an option for this one casual meal I'm planning. Right now I'm debating between Fresh Salt and Barbarini. Haven't been to either myself. Would love to hear your feedback.

In case you're wondering about Inatteso, I still need to try more things on their menu, but I ordered the maltagliati boscaiola (wild mushrooms, fresh sausage,tomato, black truffle oil) the other night, and truly enjoyed it. They use fresh pasta, and the execution is near-chowhound worthy (i.e. really good, but not exceptional enough to recommend someone to go out of their way to eat at; especially since Battery Park is really no man's land.) As a Financial District resident myself, I'm very glad to have them within a few blocks from where I live.

Both Barbarini and Inatteso serve good pasta dishes, but neither are exceptional. The only consistently great and exceptional pasta I've found downtown is served at Capri Caffe (Church and Reade Street).

The pasta at Inatsso isn't bad. Il Brigante has good pasta, Accapella has good pasta, Gigino has good pasta, and CInque has good pasta, Greenwich Grill has good pasta, and more. All of these are downtown